Razor blade tool device



Aug. 26,1969 v J.v. KNIGHT ETAL' 3,462,836 RAZOR BLADE TOOL DEVICE Filed Nov. va. 1967 FIG. 5

I N VENTOR.

FREDERICK A". Jan JOHN M KAI/6w 3 flrrqawar:

3,462,836 RAZOR BLADE 11101. DEVICE John V. Knight, 3201 St. Margaret Drive, and Frederick E. Jones, 5995 Westbrook Road, both of Minneapolis, Minn. 55422 Filed Nov. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 681,395 Int. Cl. 1526b 1/00 11.8. (:1. 30-331 Claims ABSCT 9F THE DISCLOSURE A device for utilizing as a scraper and a cutting tool, a safety razor blade having a central slot therein, said device comprising a pair of hinged superposed covers, one of said covers having a pair of ribs at the inner side thereof and the other having a pair of grooves cooperating with said ribs to receive and hold said razor blade therebetween positioning said blade in storage position, or in the alternative, positioning said blade in operating position.

Background and summary of invention Knowledge is had of various devices for holding a safety razor blade in such a way as to utilize it either as a knife or as a scraper. Many of these devices have relatively bulky body portions and many do not provide more than one operating position for the blade.

A substantial improvement in the invention over the prior known art is present in the relatively thin body portion which houses the razor blade and the positive locking means for placing the blade in alternate operating positions.

it is an object of this invention therefore to provide a housing comprising a pair of thin-walled covers having cooperating means to securely hold a safety razor blade in a completely retained position or in alternate operating position by merely closing the covers.

It is another object of this invention to provide a housing having friction locking covers having cooperating ribs and grooves to secure a safety razor blade therebetween.

In view of the above object, it is more specifically an object of this invention to provide a rib having spaced portions adapted to hold a safety razor blade in different operating positions.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the device herein showing a portion thereof in dotted line;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a portion thereof in a different position;

FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section on an enlarged scale taken on line 33 of FIG. 1 as indicated;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view on an enlarged scale similar to FIG. 1 but with the device opened and also showing a portion thereof in an alternate position in dotted line;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 with a portion thereof in a different position; and

FEGURE 6 is a view in end elevation showing a portion thereof in dotted line.

Description of a preferred embodiment With reference to the drawings, the device herein which is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 comprises a housing or body portion arranged and constructed to utilize as a scraping or cutting blade or tool a safety razor blade 12 of a conventional two-edged design nited States Patent OfiFl 3,462,836 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 having a central longitudinal slot 13 therein enclosed at either end by end portions 14 of said blade.

Said housing 15 preferably is formed to be relatively thin of a substantially rigid plastic material such as a polystyrene having a good deal of toughness to withstand side pressures and having a sufficient degree of resilience for the purpose hereinafter to be indicated. Said housing comprises covers '17 and 18 connected at adjacent edges 17a and 18a by a hinge 29 comprising flexible plastic material fused and made integral with said covers 17 and 18 and thus forming a conventional type of a living hinge. Edge portions 17b and 18b remote from said edges 17a and 18a and forming the free end portions of said covers 17 and 18 preferably are tapered as indicated in FIG. 3. Said housing with its covers 17 and 18 in closed position as shown in FIG. 3 will have a very thin cross sectional profile such as on the order of /s to inch.

The inner side of cover 17 is indicated by reference numeral 22 and the inner side of cover 18 is indicated by the reference numeral 24.

The means for holding the razor blade 12 locked in position are a pair of ribs carried by said cover 17 and a corresponding pair of complementary grooves in cover 18. Thus the inner side of said cover 17 has a longitudinal rib 25 extending substantially thereacross having a length to be coextensive with the length of said blade slot 13 and being positioned transversely of said cover so that when said blade is positioned to have its slot disposed over said rib, the blade will not extend beyond the perimeter of said cover. Said rib will be somewhat tapered in cross section.

Parallel to said rib 25 and spaced therefrom in the direction of the edge 17b is a second rib 27 having an overall length the same as that of rib 25 but comprising a major portion 27a and a small portion 27b spaced therefrom by a space 270. Said space 27c will be of a length equal to the width of the end portion 14 of said blade 12. Said rib 27 will be so positioned that when said blade 12 is disposed thereover to receive the entire rib 27 within its slot, an edge of the blade will extend beyond the edge portion 1715 just a sufficient distance for the extended portion of said blade to form a good useable cutting or scraping edge.

When said blade is disposed over said rib 27 just to have the major portion 27a thereof disposed through slot .13, the blade will be positioned to extend beyond both the side edge portion 17b and the end edge portion 17d providing an exposed corner cutting edge of the portion of said blade projecting beyond the corner of said cover 17 defined by the intersection of said edges 17b and 17d. The blade is locked against endwise movement by having an end portion 14 thereof lodged in the space 27c between the rib portions 27a and 27b.

Said rib 27 as shown in FIG. 3 preferably will have flaring side walls rounding into the top wall of said rib.

Said cover 18 has a pair of grooves extending thereacross to accommodate and receive said ribs 25 and 27. With the covers 18 and 17 in superposed closed position, a groove 32 formed on the inner side of said cover 18 and extending there-across will receive the rib 25. A second groove 33 is formed on said inner side of said cover positioned to receive and accommodate the rib 27. As shown in FIG. 3, said groove 33 tapers in the direction of its open side having its open side of just sufficient width and the material of said cover having just sufficient resilience for said groove at its open side to snap over onto said rib and to receive the same under frictional engagement to provide a good secure locking engagement.

Although covers 17 and 18 are shown to be of equal thickness, said cover 17 may be formed to have a lesser thickness having ribs upstanding therefrom than could said cover 18 having grooves formed therein.

Extending outwardly from said ends 17c and 180 respectively are ears or tabs 35 and 36 which provide a finger hold for separating or opening said covers 17 and 18.

Operation The operation of the device herein is believed to be quite clear from the description above given.

The interengagement of the groove 33 and the rib 27 hold the covers 17 and 18 in a secure locked position. By use of the tabs 35 and 36 the covers are separated.

Referring to FIG. .5, a razor blade is shown completely contained within the cover 17 and with the blade in this position with the covers closed the device is safely carried about and represents a small compact item.

With the blade positioned over the rib 27, the cutting edge of the blade will extend just sufficiently to form a good cutting or scraping edge. The blade is securely locked into position by the engagement of the rib 27 and groove 33. The tapered profile of said rib 27 also serves to retain said blade from attempting to slip upwardly of said rib. As indicated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the present embodiment of the device provides two alternate operating positions for the blade.

The thin profile of the device permits use of the tool in places of limited space and forms a very convenient tool having a great deal of utility.

Thus it is seen that there has been provided an efficient simply constructed device for the general use of a razor blade as a cutting or scrapping tool, and it is believed that this device represents a substantial improvement in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A razor blads tool device having in combination,

a housing comprising a pair of covers of a size to fully contain a slotted double-edged razor blade,

means hinging said covers at a pair of adjacent side edge portions,

said covers having overlying inner side portions,

one of said covers having a pair of ribs in spaced relation extending thereacross, each of said ribs being of a length to be received within the slot of said blade,

one of said ribs being disposed to position said blade fully within said one of said covers,

the other of said ribs being disposed to position said blade to have its cutting edge extend beyond the adjacent side edge of said one of said covers, and

the inner side of the other of said covers having a pair of spaced grooves therein corresponding to and being respectively formed to accommodate and receive said ribs when said covers are in overlying position.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, including means in connection with said covers for moving the same with respect to one another.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1, wherein one of said ribs is flared in cross section, and

a groove corresponding to said flared rib is tapered in cross section in the direction of its open side to frictionally receive said rib and hold the same in locked engagement.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1, wherein said other of said ribs has spaced portions arranged to position said razor blade to have the same extend beyond said side edge portion and an end edge portion of said one of said covers.

5. The structure set forth in claim 1, including an ear projecting from each of said covers for opening and closing said covers with respect to one another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,001,769 8/1911 Pace 30-330 X 1,599,604 9/1926 Wetmore 30-156 2,308,162 1/1943 Frank 30329 2,644,230 7/1953 Anderson 30330 X MYRON C. KRUSE, Primary Examiner 

